The best “spa experiences” are all about the way that your five senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch) are made to feel; it’s about aroma, relaxation, soothing sounds, elegant surroundings, and refreshment. If you keep your senses in mind, you can easily create an experience at home that will echo with the flair of your favorite spa.
The 5 senses stimulated during a spa experience
1. Sight
First, you must think about your sense of sight. Most of us have at our disposal a normal bathroom, not a decked-out spa tub with gorgeous tile and sparkling amenities. So, the best way to create a spa feel in your bathroom is to “de-clutter”. Spas are about making the simple seem fantastic, they are about clean lines and clean shelves, so take everything that you don’t need “out” and put it away, which will free up some room for a couple of nice candles.
2. Smell
Next, you should think about your sense of smell. Spas have a distinct aroma, the aroma of relaxation. Lavender and Chamomile are both wonderful “soothing” scents. Take a trip to your local “Bed, Bath and Beyond” and you will find many derivations of these scents mixed with other ones to create, enhance and entice the “mood center” of your brain. Grab yourself some scented spray so that you can mist your bathroom prior to the actual “treatment” as well as a couple of scented candles.
3. Sound
Our sense of sound is very acute. We all know how we feel after a day at the office, dealing with constant chattering, at it is anything but relaxed. Get yourself a small CD player to keep in your bathroom as well as a couple of good CDs. You can either play your favorite relaxing music or opt for one of those “mood-enhancing” CDs that feature the sounds of nature. This is a great way to tell our bodies to slow down and relax, and it will most certainly enhance your at-home spa experience.
4. Taste
Though taste doesn’t often play a huge role in the spa experience, you will never find a big spa without the accessibility of a nice bottle of water at your fingertips at all times. Water is the best fluid that you can drink when it comes to detoxifying your body, and before you indulge in your at-home spa experience, make sure to have a cool glass or bottle of water “tub-side”. If you want to get really fancy, you can go to the local health food store and get yourself a recipe book for healthy smoothies, and have one before or after your treatment.
5. Touch
While visiting a real spa, you may experience a massage, manicure, or haircut, which all involve touching. But white at home, you will probably be alone. So the best “at-home spa treatment” that you can have is a nice, long soak in your bathtub with the water touching your skin. This sounds simple, but it is actually a great way to detoxify the body when you think about the additives that you can put into the water, like sea salts, mineral salts, nourishing extracts, etc.
I would suggest a nice “Dead Sea Salt” soak, as it seems to really relax the muscles and renew the skin (you can find these bath salts at any health food store), but before I soak, I like to prepare my skin with a nice “brushing”.
This is a technique where you take a bath brush with semi-firm bristles and brush your skin in counter-clockwise circles starting at the soles of your feet and ending at your neck. This increases blood flow and also opens pores, which will prep your body for that soak you have prepared.
All in all, if you keep a few basic things in mind, you can have a wonderful spa-like experience in your own home several times a week if you like. It’s a great way to unwind and save money!
